ABSTRACT
Electricity and water are two very essential factors every farmer across the globe is concerned about. The availability of electricity for various farming operations are still very limited in the developing country like India. Generation of electricity from conventional power plant requires huge infrastructure and sometimes it becomes very difficult to supply the generated electricity to the remote rural areas. The depth of ground water is also increasing year by year and it becomes very imperative to somehow increase the water level below the earth surface. Considering the necessity of electricity and water harvesting; agrovoltaic with rain water harvesting system is proposed in the present research work. Agrovoltaic stands for system that utilizes same arable land for the production of crops and generation of electricity from solar panels. Agrovoltaic with rain water harvesting system can generate electricity, produced conventional crops and deposit rain water from the same piece of land that used for farming. The theoretical case study is performed in the present research work for Indian conditions and it is observed that the proposed system can be a viable solution for the farmers issues related to basic water and energy requirements. The proposed system can also be employ for animal’s shelter and other aligned applications. The possible challenges for the efficient utilization of proposed system like crop compatibility, effect of solar panels shadow and other issues are also enlightened in the current research work. The payback period of around 9–10yrs is observed from the present study with initial investment cost of around 8 million for Maize as a crop. The average annual income for farmers is also estimated to be around 0.8 million with additional benefits of rain water harvesting.
